Credit card payments, transit card payments, electronic badge codes, and access codes may be provided by electronic devices such as mobile phones and others. For example, a mobile phone or other electronic device having a near field communication (NFC) transceiver may communicate with a point-of-sale (POS) terminal to provide payment information to complete a sales transaction. Alternatively, a mobile phone or other electronic device may communicate with a badge reader at a building entrance to provide an individual access code to gain access to the building. The electronic information that promotes these transactions may be referred to as confidential information. Sometimes the confidential information may be stored in a secure element in the mobile phone or other electronic device. The confidential information may be credit card account information, debit card account information, transit card account information, transit token information, electronic coupon information, electronic loyalty information, electronic badge information, electronic access code information, and other such confidential information. In some embodiments, the confidential information may include executable applications that promote electronic payment by the mobile device, for example an electronic credit card application and/or an electronic transit card application. The secure element may be a reserved portion of memory that cannot be accessed by unauthorized applications, whereby the confidential information is kept secure and unaltered. Alternatively, in some cases, the secure element may be a dedicated chip in the electronic device, for example a smart card chip. Sometimes funds balances may be stored in the secure element, for example transit card fund balances. The secure element may be stored in a reserved area of a random access memory (RAM) coupled to a processor and/or in a reserved area of a processor.
A smart card may be an integrated circuit chip that comprises a processor, a memory or plurality of memories, and an application that executes on the processor to provide secure access to confidential information stored in the memory. Typically, external readers may not access the memory of the smart card directly. Instead, access to the confidential information is provided by the application that enforces appropriate rules for secure access following appropriate financial protocols. Smart cards may encapsulate credit cards, debit cards (also referred to as electronic cash), health account cards, computer and/or building security system access codes, loyalty program access codes (such as frequent flyer points and/or miles), electronic coupon codes, personal identification, and other electronic secure functions. In some embodiments, a smart card may comprise only non-volatile memory, in which case secure access in accordance with mandated transaction protocols may be provided by a secure application external to the smart card.